Product Description

On the hunt for fish and polar foxes the Inuit crosses vast expanses of ice. Not only is there danger from polar bears, the ice is also malicious. Even a firm surface will melt quickly. And soon the ice floes float like small islands on the game board. You have to be circumspect and lucky to find the most productive hunting grounds and simultaneously occupy enough floes for your family!

Product Reviews

I guess this is the perfect game for those who are concerned about the
polar icecaps melting: because, in Iglu Iglu, you're melting a polar
ice cap!

Each player is a tribe of Inuit, represented by meeples (Inu-eeples?
Eskimeeples?). The board is covered with ice tiles and, each turn, you
melt a tile, and then have three action points for your Inuit to use.
Your goal is to hunt and fish for the various animals that are
revealed during the ice melts, with each type being worth a certain
amount of victory points. Some of the tiles flipped have an immediate
result, and others you keep to yourself, and use at the opportune time.
There can be periods of "famine" in this game; so what then? If no
animals or fish are in sight, simply use the action points to spread
out your Inuit to strategic points where they can leap into action
when the animals do appear. Also, action points can be used to build
igloos... highly useful, when opposing players send marauding polar
bears after you! As well, an ice tile with an igloo on it can never be
melted, and this is useful for scoring ice islands.

Yes, ice islands: not all of the ice will be melted by the end of the
game, and players will score points based on their presence on the
surviving ice islands. The lead player on each island will get one
point for each tile....unless he or she is alone, in which case the
value of the island is the number of ice tiles SQUARED!

There's a great deal of luck involved with the melting of the ice
tiles, and it is very difficult to make a long term strategy. However,
the beauty of the game (apart from the beauty of the well-themed bits
and board) is in the tactics of the game, not the strategy. Each turn,
rather than looking into the future, you're very much focussed on the
present: "OK, here I am on this ice floe; given the PRESENT situation,
and the tiles I have in reserve, how can I best benefit myself RIGHT
NOW?" I suppose that's thematically accurate: in a subsistence
economy, you're concerned about where the NEXT meal is coming from;
you don't have time to worry about next week's meal....you may be
eaten by a polar bear by then! So solve today's crisis, and let
tomorrow look after itself. This is very different from Carcassonne
(to which Iglu Iglu has a passing resemblance). In fact, I find that
tactical though it is, considerably more thought is required in Iglu
Iglu than in Carcassonne, and (apart from the first few turns) the
best move is not readily apparent.

Is it cutthroat? Very... and not at all! It all depends on who's
playing it and how you want to play it. Thus, this extremely
well-themed tactical game suits both the gaming hawks and doves (or is
that polar bears and harp seals?).

Other Resources for Iglu Iglu:

Board Game Geek is an incredible compilation of information about board and card games with many descriptions, photographs, reviews, session reports, and other commentary.